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Walter Cronkite

A legacy of trust in four moments

Published on Tuesday, Jul 21, 2009

Douglas Martin, in an obituary in the New York Times last week, recording the death and life of Walter Cronkite, noted that in Sweden news anchors once were called ''Cronkiters.'' Such was the broad respect for the CBS newsman, dead at age 92. Television long has been described as the cool medium, success built on something elusive, perception, mood, an illusion of comfort. Whatever the concept, Mr. Cronkite mastered the delivery, dominating television news in an era of three dominant networks.

Thus, they were Cronkiters, not Brinkleyers or Huntleyers.

In television, you break from the cool with care. Mr. Cronkite understood as much. He had a stellar career long before CBS, in particular covering World War II for United Press International, accompanying troops from North Africa to the Battle of the Bulge. As anchor, he had four moments that revealed much about how he gained such credibility with viewers. In each, he stepped out of the pattern.

The television has carried replays of his briefly losing his composure when reporting the death of President Kennedy. He conveyed boyish excitement at the moon landing of Apollo 11. Hard to imagine two more striking events in our collective lives.

Then, in October 1972, he dedicated 14 minutes of the evening news, an extraordinary amount of time, to the Watergate scandal. The editorial decision echoed his decisive 1968 report about the lost cause in Vietnam. Walter Cronkite judiciously exercised his considerable influence, the trust he gained flowing from a capacity to get the story just right.

Douglas Martin, in an obituary in the New York Times last week, recording the death and life of Walter Cronkite, noted that in Sweden news anchors once were called ''Cronkiters.'' Such was the broad respect for the CBS newsman, dead at age 92. Television long has been described as the cool medium, success built on something elusive, perception, mood, an illusion of comfort. Whatever the concept, Mr. Cronkite mastered the delivery, dominating television news in an era of three dominant networks.

Get the full article here.


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